I live in a bubble

I'm in the middle of reading "Coming Apart: The State of White America." It reminds me of "Bobos in Paradise," but with a kinda dry and terrible title.

The main premise of the first 30% of the book is that the upper middle class has become more segregated from mainstream America over the last 40 years. The ultra elite control major education, business and political institutions, but have little first hand understanding about how everyone else lives.  Basically, the highly educated elite live in distinct bubbles geographically and they've formed a distinct culture of their own pretty isolated from mainstream culture.

Alright, now to the juicy part...just how "elite" is plasticann? I knew it was going to be pretty bad before I even started this Cosmo style quiz. Ummm....reading this book (check), found this book in the Kindle library I share with my family (check), attended two elitist institutions (check check), the fact the quiz is on pbs.org (CHECK), etc.

The [white educated wealthy congratulations you live in a bubble] Quiz
Here's where you can take this quiz online and they'll even score it for you. Before you judge my elitism, take the quiz yourself. If you're reading this blog and we're friends...you're probably a little bit elitist yourself.

How elitist bubble are the Bakuns? (Scale of 0 to 100, 0 is most elitist)

• plasticann: 20 points
• Adam: 28 points 

I can't believe Adam got more points than me. He's actually white and I'm not. Taking a look as the "categories," I think I best fit the "first generation upper middle class person with middle class parents." Adam best fits the "second generation (or more) upper middle class person who has made it point of getting out a lot." We both got some cheap extra points for a few kinda funny things.

plasticann:

• (+ 1 point) I knew that Branson referred to Branson, MO only because someone we met on vacation once said they had a second home in Branson and we'd never heard of it. We subsequently learned it's  HUGE vacation spot for country music fans. Thanks random vacation peeps for making me more well rounded.
• (+ 1 point) I ate at a TGI Fridays in the last year. I should mention that I ate at a TGI Fridays because I was in Peoria, IL for work. You heard it right...Peoria, IL home of Caterpillar and the Zipcar call center. We also went to Dairy Queen for a banana split which was a real treat.
• (+ 4 points) I personally know an "evangelical Christian" (+2) and I was one myself (bonus +2) Thank you Jesus!
• (+ 4 points) I have more than one friend with significantly different political views. Well, given that I'm a conservative living in the People's Republic of Cambridge, I have friends who have politically different views just because I'm the one who's different. If I was only friends with Conservatives, I'd be really lonely.
• (+ 1 point) I love factory tours and I can't believe I got a point just for having been on a factory floor at some point. Seriously...there are people who haven't been on a factory tour of any kind? Factory tours rock!!! Come on people, get thyself to a Cape Cod potato chip tour, the Toyota factory tour in Japan, even a micro brewery factory has got to count for at least half a point.
• (+ 1 point) I've taken Greyhound on a trip more than 50 miles. So my aversion to driving granted me one extra point.
• Total cheapo points, but I'll take them = 12 points

Adam:

• (+ 5 points) When Adam first graduated from college, he was working for Intervarsity as an on-campus minister so he technically lived below the poverty line for at least one year. Five whole points. Adam would have gotten a few more points if he'd lived below the poverty line both as an adult and as a child, but he grew up in Menlo Park, CA. Hah, enough said!
• (+ 4 points) Evangelical Christian bonus.
• (+ 4 points) Conservative living in liberal Northeast bonus.
• (+ 3 points) Adam scooped [premium] ice cream one summer so he technically had a job that made part of his body ache. If his body ached all over, he would have gotten extra points, but I decided it was just an achy arm. BTW, carpel tunnel doesn't count. 
• (+ 4 points) Adam watches a lot of mainstream movies. He likes go on Mondays, his day off.
• (+ 3 points) Adam watches quite a bit of television. He should probably get extra (+) points for reading Entertainment Weekly, but he would probably get negative (-) points for the way he methodically and systematically manages his DVR using Google Docs.
• (+1 point) Did I mention the Bakuns love factory tours?
• Adam deserves the + 5 points for when he lived below the poverty line, but the other ones are rather gratuitous and they total 19 extra points. Since Adam has made it point to get out a lot, I guess he deserves his extra 19 cheapo points at the end of the day.

Adam tried to argue for extra points on the domestic mainstream beer question. "Sam Adam's is mass market and domestic...they're huge now." No Adam, if it ain't Bud, Coors, Busch or Miller, it ain't mainstream. In Adam's mind, Sam Adam's is "mainstream domestic" because he likes to drink obscure Belgian Trappist beers. At the end of the day, the beer argument says it all, the Bakuns are elitists who live in a bubble, but at least we try to get out.